My new science fiction novel is available on Kindle now!

Thank you to everyone who supported me and helped me through this one. It was a lot of fun to write, and I can’t wait to see what you guys think of it.

This one asks an important moral question. Do the ends ever justify the means? The characters of the story each have their own answer to this question, and they act accordingly, which creates a lot of tension within the Esslar star system. The tension builds and builds until it needs to release. But will the tension gradually deflate? Or will the star system pop?

I love the plot of this novel. It took a lot of turns that I even didn’t expect. The characters were fun to write. I had intentions for them in the beginning, but the more I wrote, the more they took on lives of their own.

With this novel, I learned how to write without an outline. It was really fun to dive into a project without much planning. I had a blast writing without limiting myself to a pre-established plot. I made sure to follow some kind of structure, but it was still very freeing.

Then came the editing, which was harder than it was with Liar’s Legacy. I had to rearrange some scenes, take out others, and add new ones. There were many inconsistencies, including a dead character showing up at the end because I had forgotten I killed him off.

But everything was fixed in the edits. All-in-all, the editing process was much easier than it could have been. I could have gone completely off course and derailed the entire plot at any point. But the story remained mostly consistent throughout the drafting phase, so it wasn’t a total wreck of a first draft.

I learned a lot while writing this book that I hope to share with all of you. I learned about improvising a story, I learned how to write faster, and I learned how to create meaningful plot-twists.

This novel was a ton of fun to write, and I hope you have fun reading it! The Kindle edition is available here, and the paperback edition will be available later this month.

This book is the beginning of a new series, but it can be enjoyed on its own as well. Many of the plot threads are tied off nicely at the end, but the story doesn’t end here.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy Fossil. Have a fantastic day!

The post Fossil Is Available Now! appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

With Lewis Mining Corporation encroaching on their territory and the Phoenix Fleet pirate crew causing chaos, Greyson Thane struggles to keep his corporation afloat. Mila Fernandes, Greyson Thane’s top admiral, works hard to haul in as many asteroids as possible. But it still isn’t enough. It won’t be long before they’re out of business and out of jobs.

 But when Mila and her crew uncover a priceless humanoid fossil inside of an asteroid, the Esslar star system falls into turmoil as everyone races to get their hands on the prize. Whoever gets the asteroid wins the star system.

This is the premise of the first book in the Fossil Saga, a new action-packed science fiction series filled with fun characters, fierce battles, and more plot-twists than you could imagine!

The first novel releases in ebook format this Thursday on February 29th. That’s only three days away! The paperback will release in March.

I’m so excited to share this story with you all. I’ve been working on it for a while, and it’s been a blast. I love these characters, I love this story, and it involves some of my best action scenes so far, and this series is only getting started!

I don’t have cover art to share with you yet, but it is coming. I’ll make another post when I receive that.

I hope you’re as excited about this book’s launch as I am. It’s going to be a blast. I will see you all on the 29th!

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post Fossil | A New Science Fiction Novel appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

I’m hard at work on Fossil, and I hope to get it out by this month. It’s nearly complete. I only have a couple more editing passes to do, then it should be good to go.

This is going to be the first novel of a larger series that I am very excited to present to you guys. I think the direction of the series is very interesting, and I can’t wait to write it. There’s going to be a lot of fun stuff and a lot of tense action, and I hope you guys are excited for it.

I also have some other things I’m working on. Last year, I wrote a story called The Metal Gunslinger. I enjoyed writing the character so much that I decided to give him his own series of novels. He’s going to be a series character like John Carter or Flash Gordon. Each novel is going to be a new adventure, but they’re all going to be in the same, interconnected universe. That means some characters from previous books will appear in future installments, and some story elements will crossover into other novels. Some stories might even have direct sequels. Who knows where the series will lead?

I’m hard at work on the first draft of the first Metal Gunslinger novel, and I am loving the direction it’s taking. I’m having a blast with the characters. The story is small, but tense. The stakes are high, and the characters must find a way to work together and survive before it’s too late.

One thing I enjoyed about writing the original short story is the style. I wanted to make it seem like a report that H4-NK was giving to his superiors, and I brought that over into this first novel. I’m looking forward to finishing it, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy it.

I’m also working on some other stories, like the second Eorum Chronicles novella and another fantasy novel, but I’m still planning those out and haven’t begun drafting yet. I’m planning on writing Eorum Chronicles after Metal Gunslinger, so it is coming very soon.

Other news

Aside from the books I’m working on, I wanted to tell you about another project I’ve been undertaking the last couple of weeks. I’m working on starting a YouTube channel. This is going to be a place where I talk about books, movies, shows, and highlight the storytelling techniques they use. I’ll give some writing lessons as well, teaching you guys what I’ve learning in my journey as an author.

I’ve finished a few scripts and even recorded a few of them. I want to have a voice over with an animated avatar on screen rather than filming the videos. I’m doing this because I also love animating, but it’s hard to find the time since I’m busy writing as well. This will help give myself a balance between writing and animating, because they’ll both be supporting one another. It’ll be a lot of hard work, but I think it’ll be worth it in the end.

Right now, I’m struggling with audio quality. I have a new microphone, but I’m having a hard time finding a place to record where I don’t pick up other, unwanted noises. I’m sure I’ll figure something out, but that’s been a struggle right now.

I’m also very self-conscious about my voice. I understand that everyone hates how they sound in recordings, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier. I feel embarrassed listening to myself after recording a script. I’m still going to try to be brave and upload my recordings anyway. I’ll just have to push through listening to my own voice over and over while animating my avatar.

That’s the plan for the channel right now. I might end up switching to filming the videos anyway, but I think it’s more likely that I will animate them.

Anyway, that’s all the news for right now.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post Fossil, Future Projects, and New Stuff appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

I know I’m late, but better late than never.

November has been an eventful month. It’s National Novel Writing Month, and I decided to take the challenge and do my best to write 50,000 words in thirty days. I hadn’t really attempted this challenge before, so I was very excited. Unfortunately, the story I came up with was half-baked and not very interesting, but at least I could write it and practice getting faster.

It was fun for the first week. I had a blast each time I sat down to write. But the next week I was schedule for more hours at work than normal. It was a pain, but I barely managed to scrape through that week while maintaining a consistent word count.

Then I started feeling bad. The fever came, and the spots soon after.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I have chicken pox for the second time!

The fever was really bad, so I stopped writing for a week, and I still haven’t gotten back to it. The fever is gone, but the spots are still there. I should recover by next week, but that’s still a whole other week.

So, I’m probably not finishing NaNoWriMo this year, but that’s okay. I’ll still work on some other projects. I’ve been wanting to write some more short stories, and maybe I’ll write some more novellas. I really enjoyed writing The Eorum Chronicles: The Shadowman, and I think writing some sci-fi novellas like The Time Machine could be a blast.

My next few novels should release sometime next year. They’ll be the first novels of a series. I’m loving the first book so far, and I cannot wait to write the others. I am very excited for you to read them, and I hope you’re looking forward to them as well. But for now, I am still recovering, and I will get back at it soon.

Happy holidays!

Elliot Kessler

The post NaNoWriMo, Chicken Pox, and Overworking Myself appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

But despite this joy I find in storytelling, I’ve found myself stressing every time I sit at my desk to work on my books. I feel a headache start to come on, and I find it difficult to get words down on the page.

Why is this? What happened to my passion and joy?

Well, it turns out there’s a lot more to the business of creative writing than I thought there was. I’ve been writing these stories recently because I feel like I have to. I have found myself getting overwhelmed. There’s so much I need to do to turn my writing into a profitable business. I started everything all wrong. There is a lot that needs to be done with marketing that I don’t understand.

Point is, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, and it’s starting to freak me out. I’ve begun looking at stories as content and assets instead of fun adventures through new worlds. My writing has become dry. I’ve found a lot of things wrong with it. I’m scared people won’t like it. I get angry when my stories aren’t perfect.

So, yeah. I’m a little stressed.

Because of this, I’m going to take a step back from my current projects and work on something else for a little while, which is convenient, because National Novel Writing Month is only a few weeks away!

What does the near future look like for my writing now?

I’m going back to my roots. I’m re-examining why I write so I can begin to understand the how better. I’m going to write short stories, work on finding inspiration, and putting the joy back into my storytelling.

The two projects I have in progress right now, which are a novel (the first of a trilogy) and the sequel to my Eorum novella, are stories that, I think, take themselves too seriously. I’ve forgotten how to have fun, and that’s going to change.

Henceforth, I shall go back to what I did with my short stories and Liar’s Legacy and reintroduce the silliness and witty humor, potentially to a higher degree!

Some of my favorite stories are the ones that don’t take themselves too seriously. That doesn’t mean serious stories are bad. I love authors like Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, and Frank Herbert. But I also love Douglas Adams, and even J. R. R. Tolkien added plenty of humor to The Hobbit.

Stories are supposed to be fun, and I think I’m better at writing those stories than I am at the more serious ones.

What does this mean for my future books?

It means to prepare yourself for fast-paced action, fun characters, and terrible jokes!

As I said, I’m taking a step back from my current projects, and I’m going to work on something new for National Novel Writing Month. (Yes, I’m challenging myself to write a novel in one month as a stress reliever. Probably not the best plan, but that’s okay.)

I’m excited for this project. I’m not going to reveal anything here, but it’s the kind of story I’ve been wanting to write for a long time, but I couldn’t find the right idea. Now I have, and I’m about to blow your mind!

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post Writing is Stressful Apparently appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

The novella is the beginning of a series following a young adventurer named Eorum. As he travels the western countries of the continent of Eretor, he helps those in need and gives what he can.

In The Shadowman, Eorum has journeyed for several years, and he is now ready to find a house and settle down. But Eorum must go on one more quest before he can hang up his sword.

Liam’s daughter has fallen fatally ill, and he tasks Eorum with finding a cure for his daughter. The pair soon discover that she has been attacked by an ancient evil: a Shadowman.

Together, Eorum and Liam must find this monster and destroy him to free Liam’s daughter from her illness.

Eretor is a fantasy world I created when I was 13, and this novella is based on one of my very first short stories. I grew up with Eorum and several other characters in this epic, mythical. I’ve seen them go on adventures and travel to distant lands and fight terrible evil.

Years ago, I had a plan to write the greatest fantasy series of all time. I began to write the first book, but quickly gave up. I wasn’t ready for such an enormous task. I still had much to learn.

I had moved on from the world of Eretor. I decided that was my jumping off point into the world of creative writing, and my real books were going to be other stories set in other worlds following other characters. But there was something about these stories that I grew up writing that I couldn’t let go of. They were always in the back of my mind, and I wanted to find some way of bringing them back.

Originally, I was going to write a Kindle Vella series centered around Eorum. Each episode would be a brand new adventure, and it would build into a climactic battle before the next series of short stories began and a new evil force arose.

The problem with this is that Eorum’s adventures are far too epic to be condensed into 2,000/3,000 word short stories. The original Eorum story was only 1,500 words long, but that was my longest work at the time, and it barely scratched the surface of the full story I wanted to tell.

Because of this issue, I decided that Eorum’s adventures wouldn’t be a series of short stories, but a series of short books. Novellas.

A while ago, I heard of a science fiction series of novellas called The Murderbot Diaries. I tried the first one, and I didn’t like it very much. Not only was the story boring, but there was too much swearing in it. It seems that I’m in the minority on this point, but I prefer my books to be devoid of swears rather than filled with them. I thought the idea of a novella series was interesting, though. But I never gave it a lot of thought until a few months ago.

At the time, I was reading classic Spider-Man comics when an idea occurred to me. Why don’t I write a series of short books with action-packed yet meaningful and thoughtful adventures centered around a specific character? Each book would be its own adventure, but they would all tie together and connect in some way, much like comics.

I thought the idea was brilliant, and I quickly got to work on creating a character to make a series with. Some were good, but most were terrible. Then I decided to make the series with a character I already knew well and loved.

I knew the first Eorum Chronicles novella would have to be based on his original adventure. It feels like forever since I first wrote his story. Since then, I had written another story featuring Eorum about how he became an adventurer, so I knew his backstory. Everything was in place. I wrote the first draft of the novella in a week, sent it to my aunt to edit it (She edited the original short as well.), and had a cover made.

Now, it’s almost here! The Eorum Chronicles: The Shadowman is the first of many exciting adventures filled with action, heart, and biblical messages about sacrifice, servitude, and humility.

The paperback edition will be available this Saturday, October 7th, but you can preorder the Ebook now!

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post The Eorum Chronicles: The Shadowman Releases Saturday! appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

What happened?

I’m a naturally lazy person. I enjoy writing, but if I can find an excuse to not put as much work in that I have to, I’ll likely use it. I don’t work as much as I should. I hoped to start pushing out a lot more stories since I published my first novel, but the amount of effort I was putting in wasn’t going to cut it. I had to change something. I had to push myself even further.

I saw a post on Instagram where an author started a challenge for himself, but his was a little different. He chose to write a novel in a week. A novel! One week! I thought that was crazy. No one can do that!

Lo and behold, he accomplished this task. His novel was short, sitting at around 53,000 words, but it was still a novel that he wrote in a single week. I took six months for the Kindle Vella edition of Liar’s Legacy, and I took three months for the first draft of Fossil. This guys took one week. I figured if he could do that, then surely I could write a measly novella in one week, right?

I got to work. I started with a short outline to make sure I didn’t spend too much time thinking about what the next scene should be, but I made sure not to make it too detailed because I still wanted some freedom.

Monday came, and I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. By the time the sun came down, I found myself with 4,772 words. The next day, 5,697. Clearly, I could write more than I thought I could.

But what changed that I started writing so fast? Why could I suddenly write a whole novella in one week?

I set a goal and I set a deadline to reach that goal. I wanted to write a story, and I gave myself one week. The determination to accomplish this task is what drove me to write faster and work harder. I took less breaks and spent most of each day either writing or thinking about the story and the direction I wanted to take it.

Today is the final day of my challenge, and I only have a little bit left before the story is finished. The first draft is sitting at a little over 19,000 words right now, which isn’t much, even for novella standards, and I definitely don’t have enough story to increase that word count by more than 1,000/2,000 words. But hey, I’ll have written a book in one week. How awesome is that?!

But the point of this article isn’t to showboat. It’s to show that we can do so much more than we think we can. All it takes is a little push. Set a goal. Set a deadline. Promise yourself a reward. Find some way to motivate yourself that works best for you, and I am certain you will find some crazy results.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post You Can Write More Than You Think appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

Before I began working on Liar’s Legacy back in 2019, I wrote a short novella about an asteroid mining company that discovers a fossil in deep space. I thought the idea could be interesting, so I began to develop it more, starting from scratch.

The first draft of “Fossil” is now finished. It’s the first book of a saga about humanity’s first contact with alien life. This is a thrill of a novel, and I’ve been having a blast writing it.

But while the first draft is finished, I’m not quite done yet. There’s still a lot of work to do. This was the first big project I wrote without an outline, and I know things are a mess right now. Characters are inconsistent, the plot drags in some places, and there are sure to be plots holes somewhere.

But all first drafts are terrible. All it requires is some editing, and it’ll be in your hands before you know it! But for now, I’m going to take a step back for a bit and clear my head. I’ll take a week off from the novel and come back to it with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective.

What am I going to be doing in the meantime?

Six years ago, I wrote a short story called Eorum and the Shadow Men. It was heavily inspired by Tolkien’s work, and I had a blast writing it. It was one of my first ever short stories, and it was the first story I had edited and revised. I even sent it to my aunt, Wanda Bush, who is a writer herself (check out her book here!), who reviewed my story and also edited it for me. It was about 1,500 words. I sent it to a young writer’s contest, lost, but didn’t care. It was something I was proud of, and I was happy I had written it.

I began to write some more stories set in the fantasy world of Eretor where Eorum roamed. I watched Eorum grow from a small boy to a brave warrior. I watched adventurers find themselves in strange lands and face terrible dangers. I had a ton of fun. But I didn’t share the stories with others. I kept them to myself. It was more of a pastime than anything. A hobby.

But now, I’m bringing you all into this world of magic, monsters, and adventure!

This week, I’m going to be writing The Chronicles of Eorum: The Shadow Man, an adaptation of my original short story. It will be the first in a series of novellas centering around the warrior of Eorum and his adventures throughout the world of Eretor. In the novellas, you’ll meet strange people, find yourself in distant lands, and face terrible monsters the likes of which you’ve never seen!

I cannot wait to bring you into this world that I explored growing up. These character and this world mean a lot to me, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.

It’s likely the first book in The Chronicles of Eorum will release before the first book in the Fossil saga, so keep an eye out for that. I have a lot more stories in the works as well, but these are the two that I’m working on the most. I’ll talk about some of the others after I release these two. Just know that Eretor won’t be the only fantasy world you’ll be traveling to, and there are plenty more planets for you to explore…

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post New Books On The Way! appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

If you’re looking for a fun and thrilling Sci-fi adventure to read this summer, this is the page-turner for you! Filled with pulse-pounding action, loveable characters, and heartwarming moments, this is one book you don’t want to miss. I had a ton of fun working on this story, and I’m sure you will have even more fun reading it!

When the evil Polemonian Empire secretly returns, Ben Novak must escape his home planet and find the legendary hero who thwarted the dark army in the last war: Sevdis Minare! But nothing about Sevdis is as it seems.

This version of the book also includes a brand new side story that was not in the original serialized version!

Back on Ben Novak’s home planet of Astru, his brother, Caleb, leads a desperate rebellion against the invaders. The odds are seemingly insurmountable. The rebels are outgunned, outnumbered, and out of hope. It’s up to Caleb to bring confidence back into these revolutionaries and save his home before it’s too late.

I am proud to present this book in all of its thrilling, heart-racing glory. If you’re tired of the same basic story over and over produced by Hollywood and major book publishers, check out this one! It breaks the mold in an ending you won’t see coming! There are so many strange worlds you’ve never seen before, and the colorful cast of characters will make you wish the book never ends. So, what are you waiting for? Get yours here!

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post Liar’s Legacy Releases Today! appeared first on Elliot Kessler.

Wonder. Awe-inspiring wonder. That’s why we still talk about these worlds. They’re mysterious and filled with questions and riddles. We have so many strange, unanswered questions about the worlds of the stories and the characters. We talk about what the answers might be to these questions. We speculate what the hidden meaning of words and lines of dialogue might be. It’s fun. It’s exciting. No one knows what lurks around each corner of these stories, and that’s very exciting.

I love the feeling of wonder I experience while reading mysterious stories or playing through strange worlds. I love exploring the unknown. It’s even more fun when the creators of stories don’t even know all the answers. It adds to that sense of wonder and mystery.

Stories have begun to lose their wonder. Science fiction and fantasy novels are hundreds upon hundreds of pages long so that the authors can explain every single detail of their worlds. Every rule, every law, and every mystery is uncovered, and that’s no fun. There’s no sense of exploration. No sense of strangeness. Nothing piques the audience’s curiosity, causing them to question what’s out there. Who are these characters? Where do they come from? Why does the world work the way it does? What’s its history? So many questions form in the minds of audiences whenever they stumble into a strange new world through a book, a show, a movie, or a video game. These questions spark wonder in the audience. The setting of the world and the strange characters stay in the minds of those who experience them. How vividly do you remember No-Face from Spirited Away? How often do you remember the Beast who lurks in the Unknown? Are there times when your mind dwells on the secrets of a certain small, Orgeon city?

But authors and film studios seem to feel the need to explain every detail. They need to know every inch of their story. Nothing can go unanswered. But some of the best stories keep that sense of the unknown. I like to think of stories filled with wonder, like Metroidvania games. If you don’t know what a Metroidvania is, look at Hollow Knight, which I referred to earlier, or even the genre’s namesake, the Metroid series. The games are 2d adventures where you navigate a vast labyrinth and find keys, such as new abilities, to open doors. To find the keys, you must find your way through a large, dangerous environment. You get lost. You find dead ends. You meet enemies and, sometimes, allies. But you never know what’s in the next room. You never know what you’re going to find next. You might find a very helpful power-up. You also might find a challenging new enemy. It’s always a mystery, with you constantly guessing and wondering about what’s out there. By the time you finish the game, you might not have explored the entire world. There still may be rooms that haven’t been etched in on your map, and you can’t help but wonder what might have been in those rooms.

That’s how I like my stories. I want to feel that sense of wonder. I want to guess what might happen next and be completely surprised. The weirder, the better. I like things left unexplained. I like speculating for myself. This is why weird stories got bit in the first place. Back in the days of pulp magazines, much of the marketing was geared toward showing how weird and strange their stories were. That’s why the magazines had names like “Astounding Stories” and “Weird Tales.” People enjoy getting lost in strange worlds. They want to escape and don’t need everything explained to them. It’s better that way. When I watched Princess Mononoke, I didn’t need to know all the details about the spirits. I didn’t need to understand why they did what they did or why they looked how they looked. All I needed to know was what happened in the story. The spirits were strange and wonderous, and I loved that about them.

I’ve been experimenting with wonder in my own stories as well. I’ve been writing a novel without any outline or detailed explanation of how the fictional world operates. I don’t even know how the story is going to end. I hypothesize that if I feel a sense of wonder while writing and I feel like I’m exploring the world while writing, the audience will feel the same while reading. Of course, while editing the novel, I’ll have to make it look like I knew what I was doing all along. That’s the point of editing. But I believe that by writing without knowing what’s around the corner, that sense of wonder and exploration will leak into the story and embed itself in the readers’ minds.

Wonder is important. Some stories, such as Spirited Away and C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, are written with wonder at their core. Their primary purpose is to get the audience to feel lost in an unknown world and to explore its strangeness. I love those stories, but I haven’t seen many lately. Maybe I’m not looking deep enough. Or perhaps no one’s writing those kinds of stories anymore. If that’s the case, I guess I’ll have to write those stories for myself, and I’ll let you guys ride along as well.

Also, I wanted to give you guys a quick reminder that Liar’s Legacy rereleases tomorrow on Amazon Kindle! I will provide a link to the book for you guys in another blog article, so stay on the lookout for that.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.

The post The Importance of Wonder appeared first on Elliot Kessler.